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Kazuchika Okada
ActorBorn November 8, 1987 (38 years)
Kazuchika Okada is a Japanese professional wrestler who signed to All Elite Wrestling in March 2024, where he won the 2024 AEW Continental Classic tournament to become AEW Continental Champion, then in 2025 defeated Kenny Omega for the AEW International Championship, unifying the two titles and becoming the first and only AEW Unified Champion.
Trained by Último Dragón at the Toryumon professional wrestling school, Okada made his professional debut on August 29, 2004, in Toryumon Mexico before joining New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) in 2007 as a Young Lion and training in the NJPW Dojo. He was sent on excursion in February 2010 to the American promotion Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA).
Across his 18-year run in NJPW from 2007 to 2024, he became a five-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion, including a record-setting fourth reign of 720 days, a two-time IWGP World Heavyweight Champion, a one-time NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Champion with Tomohiro Ishii and Hiroshi Tanahashi as members of the now-defunct CHAOS, a two-time New Japan Cup winner in 2013 and 2019, and a four-time G1 Climax winner in 2012, 2014, 2021, and 2022.
Okada is commonly cited by fans, wrestling journalists, and fellow wrestlers as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, recognized for his elite match quality, sustained excellence at the main-event level, ability to elevate opponents, and central role in driving modern Japanese wrestling’s global resurgence. He was ranked No. 1 in the Pro Wrestling Illustrated PWI 500 in 2017, earned multiple Feud and Match of the Year honors for his rivalries with Kenny Omega and Hiroshi Tanahashi, won Wrestling Observer Newsletter Wrestler of the Year and Most Outstanding Wrestler in 2017, was named Japan MVP in 2019 and 2022, inducted into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame in 2021, and also collected five Tokyo Sports MVP Awards plus nine Best Bout Awards against opponents including Tanahashi, Shinsuke Nakamura, Genichiro Tenryu, Naomichi Marufuji, Omega, SANADA, Tetsuya Naito, and Will Ospreay, with his body of work often held up as the benchmark for championship-level performance.
Trained by Último Dragón at the Toryumon professional wrestling school, Okada made his professional debut on August 29, 2004, in Toryumon Mexico before joining New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) in 2007 as a Young Lion and training in the NJPW Dojo. He was sent on excursion in February 2010 to the American promotion Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA).
Across his 18-year run in NJPW from 2007 to 2024, he became a five-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion, including a record-setting fourth reign of 720 days, a two-time IWGP World Heavyweight Champion, a one-time NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Champion with Tomohiro Ishii and Hiroshi Tanahashi as members of the now-defunct CHAOS, a two-time New Japan Cup winner in 2013 and 2019, and a four-time G1 Climax winner in 2012, 2014, 2021, and 2022.
Okada is commonly cited by fans, wrestling journalists, and fellow wrestlers as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, recognized for his elite match quality, sustained excellence at the main-event level, ability to elevate opponents, and central role in driving modern Japanese wrestling’s global resurgence. He was ranked No. 1 in the Pro Wrestling Illustrated PWI 500 in 2017, earned multiple Feud and Match of the Year honors for his rivalries with Kenny Omega and Hiroshi Tanahashi, won Wrestling Observer Newsletter Wrestler of the Year and Most Outstanding Wrestler in 2017, was named Japan MVP in 2019 and 2022, inducted into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame in 2021, and also collected five Tokyo Sports MVP Awards plus nine Best Bout Awards against opponents including Tanahashi, Shinsuke Nakamura, Genichiro Tenryu, Naomichi Marufuji, Omega, SANADA, Tetsuya Naito, and Will Ospreay, with his body of work often held up as the benchmark for championship-level performance.
Filmography
| 2026 | AEW Dynasty · as Kazuchika Okada |
| 2026 | AEW Revolution · as Kazuchika Okada |
| 2025 | AEW Worlds End · as Kazuchika Okada |
| 2025 | AEW Full Gear · as Kazuchika Okada |
| 2025 | AEW WrestleDream · as Kazuchika Okada |
| 2025 | AEW All Out: Toronto · as Kazuchika Okada |
| 2025 | AEW X NJPW: Forbidden Door: London · as Kazuchika Okada |
| 2025 | AEW All in Texas · as Kazuchika Okada |
| 2025 | AEW Double or Nothing 2025 · as Kazuchika Okada |
| 2025 | AEW: Revolution · as Kazuchika Okada |
| 2025 | AEW: Grand Slam Australia · as Kazuchika Okada |
| 2024 | AEW Worlds End · as Kazuchika Okada |
| 2024 | AEW All Out · as Kazuchika Okada |
| 2024 | AEW All in London · as Kazuchika Okada |
| 2024 | AEW X NJPW: Forbidden Door · as Kazuchika Okada |
| 2024 | AEW Double or Nothing · as Kazuchika Okada |
| 2024 | AEW Dynasty · as Kazuchika Okada |
| 2023 | NJPW G1 Climax 33: Day 17 · as Kazuchika Okada |
| 2023 | AEW X NJPW: Forbidden Door · as Kazuchika Okada |
| 2023 | All Elite Wrestling: Collision (TV Series) · as Kazuchika Okada |
| 2022 | All Elite Wrestling x New Japan Pro Wrestling: Forbidden Door · as Kazuchika Okada |
| 2022 | All Elite Wrestling: Battle of the Belts (TV Series) · as Kazuchika Okada |
| 2021 | All Elite Wrestling: Rampage (TV Series) · as Kazuchika Okada |
| 2020 | NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 14: Night 2 · as Kazuchika Okada |
| 2020 | NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 14 · as Kazuchika Okada |
| 2019 | All Elite Wrestling: Dynamite (TV Series) · as Kazuchika Okada |
| 2019 | NJPW: Royal Quest · as Kazuchika Okada |
| 2019 | NJPW G1 Climax 29: Day 19 (Final) · as Kazuchika Okada |
| 2019 | NJPW G1 Climax 29: Day 18 · as Kazuchika Okada |
| 2019 | NJPW G1 Climax 29: Day 17 · as Kazuchika Okada |
| 2019 | NJPW G1 Climax 29: Day 15 · as Kazuchika Okada |
| 2019 | NJPW G1 Climax 29: Day 14 · as Kazuchika Okada |
| 2019 | NJPW G1 Climax 29: Day 13 · as Kazuchika Okada |
| 2019 | NJPW G1 Climax 29: Day 12 · as Kazuchika Okada |
| 2019 | NJPW G1 Climax 29: Day 11 · as Kazuchika Okada |
| 2019 | NJPW G1 Climax 29: Day 10 · as Kazuchika Okada |
| 2019 | NJPW G1 Climax 29: Day 9 · as Kazuchika Okada |
| 2019 | NJPW G1 Climax 29: Day 8 · as Kazuchika Okada |
| 2019 | NJPW G1 Climax 29: Day 7 · as Kazuchika Okada |
| 2019 | NJPW G1 Climax 29: Day 6 · as Kazuchika Okada |
| 2019 | NJPW G1 Climax 29: Day 5 · as Kazuchika Okada |
| 2019 | NJPW G1 Climax 29: Day 4 · as Kazuchika Okada |
| 2019 | NJPW G1 Climax 29: Day 3 · as Kazuchika Okada |
| 2019 | NJPW G1 Climax 29: Day 2 · as Kazuchika Okada |
| 2019 | NJPW G1 Climax 29: Day 1 · as Kazuchika Okada |
| 2019 | NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 13 · as Kazuchika Okada |
| 2018 | All In · as Kazuchika Okada |
| 2018 | NJPW Dominion 6.9 · as Kazuchika Okada |
| 2018 | NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 12 · as Kazuchika Okada |
| 2017 | NJPW Dominion 6.11 · as Kazuchika Okada |
| 2017 | NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 11 · as Kazuchika Okada |
| 2016 | 99.9 Criminal Lawyer (TV Series) · as Self |
| 2016 | NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 10 · as Kazuchika Okada |
| 2015 | NJPW Wrestling Dontaku 2015 · as Kazuchika Okada |
| 2015 | New Japan Pro-Wrestling (TV Series) · as Kazuchika Okada |
| 2015 | NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 9 · as Kazuchika Okada |
| 2012 | Engraved on a Nation (TV Series) · as Self |
| 2009 | Ring Of Honor on HDNet (TV Series) · as Kazuchika Okada |